1. Field
Example embodiments relate to systems and methods that may be used to convey, anesthetize, and kill poultry.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years there has been an increasing focus on the ethical treatment of animals during a slaughtering process. For many animals, electric shocks are used to anaesthetize the animals before slaughter to ensure the animals feel no pain during the slaughtering process. In the case of poultry, preparation for electric shocks may be stressful. For example, some traditional methods of electrocuting poultry include shackling a bird's feet with metal shackles and suspending the bird by the shackles with the head down. The anaesthetization process itself takes place by passing the animal through a salt bath where an electric current passes from the salt bath, through the bird's head and body, and to the shackles. The animals often remain shackled for several minutes prior to electrocution. While this process generally leaves the animals anaesthetized before slaughter, the anaesthetizing process may cause great stress to the bird.
Other attempts at stunning animals before slaughter include lowering the animals in a pit filled with carbon dioxide. U.S. Pat. No. 7,331,848, for example, discloses the use of a pit filled with a stunning gas (carbon dioxide) with varying gas concentrations. However, this system includes a relatively complicated belt system to transport poultry through the pit which is undesirable.